dreaminglife.org

Website Redesign

Today I’ve been experimenting with a few different layouts. As much I liked the old design, it was started to look stagnant and I found it’s inherent design limiting for presenting information in two columns.

It’s been a long search trying to find a good 3 column Wordpress theme with all the geeky details I want for the blog, both back-end and front-end! But I think I found it with this one…

I hope it provides for a more user friendly visit to the site and all the different pages here. I’m still working on tweaking the settings, so things might look a little funny here and there.

If you have any comments or technical issues with the new design, let me know!

Thanks.

Share This

Some Cool Dream / Consciousness Links I’ve Recently Found

There’s some really neat blogs and websites I’ve discovered recently that I want to share:

• The Dream Studies Portal: mumblings in the realm of dreaming, culture, and consciousness
  The author behind Dream Studies has credentials that include an MA in Consciousness Studies and a Certificate in Dream Studies from John F. Kennedy University. How cool is that? It’s awesome to see this intersection between academia and dreams getting more attention.
• Dream Flesh
  I get this sense of excitement reading Dream Flesh. This guy has big plans and most importantly, acts upon them. Looks like he just published a book and redesigned the site entirely.
• Skeptico: Science at a Tipping Point
  Mainly a podcast blog. The agenda states, to “…explore the possibility that the existing materialistic paradigm might be overturned (and may already be at a tipping point).”
• The Rapid Blip
  A bookmarking wiki site with LOTS of great topics, including lucid dreaming. There is a TON of stuff here to check out.
• Streams of Consciousnes
  A new site with a blog, articles and links, about research being conducted in Consciousness Studies and Dream Studies.
• Professional research articles on Dreaming
  An EXTENSIVE collection of research papers and articles by professional dream researchers. I believe these are all from the Lucidity Letter. Hosted by Spirit Watch, a site run by researcher Jayne Gackenbach, who is also the author of the most excellent book Control Your Dreams.  I’ve just discovered this articles index and I am almost overwhelmed at the amount of interested material to read here!

Enjoy.

Share This

The Top 8 Movies on Dreams, Lucid Dreaming, and Assorted Mind-Weirdness

In keeping with this weeks earlier posts on movies, I decided to list all the good dream and lucid dream themed films out there!

If you are interested in dreams, I think you’ll find these movies worth watching.

Let me know what you think!

You might notice some of these movies bleed into other mind-related themes. My study of dreams naturally leads to a fascination with consciousness and states of mind, and so my movie list naturally reflects that in as much as it ties back into my fascination with dreams.

1. Vanilla Sky (2001) - The most popular movie to introduce the concept of lucid dreaming to the masses. Although, to be fair, the movie does play loose with the idea of lucid dreaming - i.e. he doesn’t really know he’s dreaming, he’s just mapped out intentionally a dream life that he wants to have, and then falls into it, unconsciously, and lives his life. I love this movie. I still remember the first time I saw it at a friends house. I literally was ready to watch it again from start to finish as soon as it ended.

…

2. Abre Los Ojos (Open Your Eyes) (1997) - This is the original spanish version of Vanilla Sky. I‘m really not trying to collect hipster points by saying this version is better, but it might just be better, to be honest. There are certain scenes in the original version that are cooler than any scene in the Hollywood version. For instance, I where he runs out of the building to the outdoors screaming “I want to wake up” was just awesome. Watching this, I understood how it might feel to be completely delusional and kill people, that to you, aren’t even real, but just characters in what you now recognize is an illusion.

By the way, Penelope Cruz is in this version, too. Weird eh?

…

3. Waking Life (2001) - This movie is incomparable to anything else. The entire film issequences of intense philosophical dialogues on dreams and reality. I found it disjointed and sometimes hard to follow, but overall fascinating. Adding to the dizzying dialogue, the film uses this strange animation technique where they film real people and added animation over this footage. The result is a strange combination where everything looks real but you know it’s not.

I’ve written more about Waking life here.

…

4. Mulholland Drive (2001) Ah, David Lynch! The master of fucked up films! I adore his work and I think Mulholland Drive is a masterpiece.

This film has been interpreted in a million different ways and for good reason, as Lynch is a master at open-ended film making where nothing really makes sense, even when you briefly think it does.

I like approaching this as if it’s a sequence of different dreams all loosely connected. Notice how within each scene, what’s happening seems incredibly meaningful and consequential, often with a corresponding overwhelming flow of emotions. What’s literally happening in the scene doesn’t necessarily translate to what’s meaningfully or “emotionally” happening, yet there’s this connection between the two somehow.

This level of disjointedness between what’s happening and what’s being felt is so common in dreams.

When the next scene comes along, it starts all over again and it’s not necessarily related to the scene before or after, but again, while it’s happening it feels incredibly meaningful and important.

This is very much like a night of dreams that you feel are related but don’t really make sense, yet at the time, it all made sense to you, complete with the added bonus of baffling emotions.

I’ve written some more about dreams and David Lynch’s films here.

…

5. Science of Sleep (2006) - This a cute love story wrapped around a dream-theme. The previews made it look more about dreams and the dream world than it really is. I absolutely love the scene where he falls asleep talking on the phone, and then, fully conscious in the dream state, continues the phone conversation excitedly, reporting what he’s seeing in the dream. (The camera then shows him sleeping silently with the phone near his head.) Ironically, after seeing this movie I had a dream about this character and it did not trigger anything in me to ask “Wait a minute…am I dreaming?”

…

6. Altered States (1980) Hippy culture within academia, sense deprivation tanks, religious ramblings, and lots and lots of drugs make for one interesting sci-fl flick. Loosely based on the work of researcher and ketamine-happy John Lily.

I’ve written more about Altered States here.

By the way, this movie was voted in the Top 100 Sci-Fi Films of All Time, so I guess that makes it a classic, eh?

…

7. eXistenZ (1999) Sci-fi movie about virtual reality and…well, you can guess where it goes from there. I didn’t really like it, but a lot of people do.

…

8. Stay (2005) - This film blends up the reality between a therapist and his patient and offers another wrap-around plot.

It does get surprisingly strange with some really odd, bizarre sequences for such a mainstream film.

The acting by Ryan Gosling is beautifully crafted, so much so that his depressed & suicidal character is so well acted that I felt a bit like him when it was all over.

…

And Some Dream-Related Movies I Haven’t Seen But Would Like Too…

The Good Night (2007) - Penelope Cruz again stars in a film about dreams and lucid dreaming. Lots of big names in this film - I wonder if it was popular or will be popular? Too be honest I’m not even sure if in the States it’s hit the theatres yet or already came and went. (I am out of it when it comes to popular culture, so to speak.) I definitely gotta see this though. The plot centers around a man who falls in love with a girl literally in his dreams, and then finds her in real life.

I find it amusing that Danny Devito is supposedly this crazy, nutty lucid dreaming guru in the film. Like we’re all crazy in the head, eh? Sure…

…

Wide Awake and Dreaming (2003) - Does anyone know anything about this black and white film on lucid dreaming? All I can find is this entry on IMDB. I would like to know more.

…

Some Japanimation Film I Can’t Remember the Name of (2007) - And google is not being cooperative. Does anyone know what I’m talking? There was a semi-independent japanimation film - or at least I think that’s the correct genre - that came out this year, related to dreams and lucid dreaming. I believe the lead character was female. I meant to see it, never did, and now I cannot find out anything else since I cannot remember it’s name. Dammit.

Update 12/8/2007: This movie is called Paprika! Check out this post on Paprika at Reality Shifter for a great review.

…

Lucid (2006) - Another film I’ve found from searching online for lucid dreaming movies. Not much info out there but I am intrigued that this is called a “black indie film” at Amazon. The movie poster and tagline look horror-esque.

…

The Door (2005) - A thriller about lucid dreaming and shared dreams. Looks worth watching. If Netflix has it, I will get it soon. I found a review of it here and here’s the official website for The Door.

…

So, what did I miss?

What do you think of the movies in this list?What’s your favorite dream movie?

P.S. If you like these movies, I bet you’ll also dig Donnie Darko, even though it doesn’t really have anything to do with dreams, it’s just weird.

Share This

Dream Report : bad dreams, choppy dreams…

My dreams have been choppy lately, and my dream journal is in desperate need of attention. The two are probably related.

I had a really weird nightmarish dream the other night - demon children chasing me, weird symbolism and whatnot. I am sure this is related to some real life struggles.

I see my work creeping into my dreams more and more lately. I don’t like it.

And deep discussions my wife and I have in waking life slip into my dreams, too, like the conversations are just carrying on with or without my intention. It’s slightly amusing to have these issues we’re working out continue to be discussed in a dream like we’re both still awake, talking about things. I think my mind is racing, and just can’t stop.

…

A few weeks ago I had a short lucid dream. I’ll credit it to laziness more than technique.

It was one of those mornings where I blissfully kept returning back to sleep, no matter how many times the alarm went off.

Then:

I’m dreaming, and I know it. I’ve got to prove it to myself!

I try to put my head through the wall - not violently or aggresively like a head bunt, just, casually, I guess you could say. It wouldn’t work. (Damn the laws of (dream) physics!)

So I stopped trying so hard, and like a hand submerged into water, my head goes into the wall. It felt tight and uncomfortable, and warm, too. Not very pleasant.

Then I’m awake again, turning off the alarm.

Again and again, I notice that stepping back and not trying so hard often gets the results I’m looking for in a lucid dream. This is true for flying and walking through walls and other things that fall under the “this isn’t supposed to be possible” category. Funny how there’s this intersection between intention and casual acceptance that leads to manifestation.

…

It’s always interesting to hear about the dreams of my family and friends.

My Mom sometimes tells me about her dreams - and now that I think about it, my Dad very often tells me about his dreams - occasionally with the request for an interpretation. Now, I’m not very into dream analysis for others, but I do like to hear what they think.

She’s had some really wild dreams lately about murder and giving birth. (Symbolic or what, eh?) Many months ago she had a “dream” - she doesn’t really consider it a dream per se - and, in her words, awoke to have the spirit of her mother lovingly and angelically floating above her, only to be whisped away like a mirage that disappears as soon as you look at it.

I listen curiously, and offer little opinions. I like that it comforts her. She feels it was her mother, watching over her.

…

Here’s a thought:

When you’ve grown up and lost both your parents to death, the closest you’ll ever get to them again is probably inside a dream.

Share This

What happens when you combine mindblowing psychedelics with a sensory deprivation tank? A look at the film ALTERED STATES.

The story revolves around a young scientist named Eddie Jessup, whose interest in his work overshadows everything else, including not only his marriage to but even his own well-being.

I read that the actors experimented with ketamine while making this film. I thought this was strange but awesome of them. Later on I discovered why they did it; ALTERED STATES is based on the life and work of scientist, writer, and ketamine-enthusiast John Lilly.

I did some searching and found an incredibly fascinating interview with John Lily interview on the Erowid archives, originally appearing in Omni magazine, about his life and his work and a bit on the film Altered States.

Learning more about Lily’s personality, life, and work made me appreciate this film even more. He, just like the character in Altered States, was driven nearly to madness, and almost to his death, for his passionate and all-consuming interest in exploring his own mind with drugs. This was no joke to him. I was astonished to learn that Lily once spent 100 days straight on ketamine.

Despite the fact that this makes him sound like a crackpot, he was a real scientist with a number of mainstream accomplishments under his belt. He is credited with inventing the sensory deprivation tank in order to learn if the brain needed external stimuli to “stay awake.” He also devoted much research into inventing a technique for communication between humans and dolphins. (I would very much like to know where this research went; in the interview, nearly 25 years ago, he states that we’re about five years away from breaking the language barrier between humans and dolphins.) He also published many books over the years on his own experiences and scientific research.

….

I loved ALTERED STATES from the very beginning – the sense deprivation tank, the crazy drug trips, the religious nature of his hallucinations (including burning crosses, visions of hell, and scenes from the Book of Revelations). I also enjoyed spotting the side references to Charles Tart, Timothy Leary, and amanita muscaria. (And being that I was born in 1980, I’m sure I missed quite a few other things key to 60’s and 70’s drug culture.)

The plot moves along pretty quickly and goes something like this:

• After attending a shamanic religious ritual and tripping with a bunch of Indians, Eddie brings back a few grams of the drug for scientific analysis.

• Once he combines this unknown drug with the sensory deprivation tank, the movie really kicks up it’s psychedelic heels and takes you for a crazy ride.

• At this point, these trips in the tank have become much more than just journeys of the mind. The combination of the sensory deprivation tank with this unknown drug allow him to tap into the genetic history contained within every cell of his body. First he regresses into a primal, pre-human ape-like creature. Ultimately, by the end of the film, he regresses back to the very beginning of existence itself, terrified by the overwhelming nothing that he becomes one with, and saved from it only by his love for his wife, Emily.

Some of the imagery is fitting for a horror film and I certainly don’t recommend anyone trip while watching this fun. Ultimately this film is a throwback to a post-60’s scientific culture when scientists were allowed to experiment with mind-altering substances in the lab. If you’ll excuse some of the cheesy dialogue and the under-developed romance between Eddie and Emily, you’ll find a fascinating film about drugs, the brain, and the nature of reality.

Sidenote: I’ve not had the chance to get inside a sensory deprivation tank but would really enjoy doing so. I would love to hear from you if you’ve had a chance to use one. I’d also be curious to know where it is and how you were able to use it. Maybe you’d want to write something about your experience and we can post it on the blog?

Share This

Dreaming While Awake: Thoughts on the film Waking Life

My thoughts after seeing Waking Life:

“Holy shit - this movie really is all about lucid dreaming!”

“What the fuck was that guy talking about?”

“This is really awesome and yet sometimes really boring.”

“This guy talking about how turning on or off a light in a dream and how it won’t work – I love this scene. And 360 vision – hell yea!”

“This crazy animation style is going to give me a headache!”

“I need to watch this movie again and take notes.”

This isn’t a normal movie with character development, a climax, and so on – it’s more like a philosophical look at dreams, waking life, and reality. It’s about a guy seemingly lost in a dreamworld, wondering from dream to dream, sometimes thinking he’s awake, and sometimes knowing he’s in a dream. He meets different people everywhere he goes, and the ensuing conversations leave you confused, intrigued, and excited.

These conversations cover a lot of ground. For those interested in spending some time with the themes of the movie, the Waking Life script is online here.

This is a rare type of film, both in content and technique, whose shortcomings are made up for it’s ability to get you thinking about something you’ve probably never thought before.

My Favorite Scene

Some Quotes

Doesn’t it make sense that death too would be wrapped in a dream? That after death, your conscious life would continue in what might be called a dream body?”

“There’s only one instant, and it’s right now, and it’s eternity.”

“They say that dreams are only real as long as they last. Couldn’t you say the same thing about life?”

“Did you ever have a job that you hated and worked real hard at? A long, hard day of work. Finally you get to go home, get in bed, close your eyes and immediately you wake up and realize… that the whole day at work had been a dream. It’s bad enough that you sell your waking life for minimum wage, but now they get your dreams for free. “

(More Waking Life quotes)

PS. It is purely a coincidence that this film is called Waking Life and then I come out with a blog called Dreaming Life. I actually came to this name while writing down my dreams and found it to be an efficient term to designate something that happened while sleeping. I wasn’t aware of the film Waking Life at the time.

Share This